Life would be so much easier for us marketers if there was only one type of customer, with one need and one personality type but sadly, that’s never been the case in the real world. As marketers, our jobs is to personalise the customers experience to the level where they make a real connection to the product or service we’re trying to promote. So why on earth do we develop a one-site-fits-all website?
Now I’m not suggesting for a minute that businesses go out and develop 4, 6 or 8 different websites to suit the various personality types, mind you, if done correctly it may boost your SEO efforts but more importantly your website should at least accomodate the various types of personalities that exist.
One of the more common personality-type testing techniques will identify the following:
Driver
Analytical
Expressive
Amiable
Let’s have a look at these more closely and see how it affects their online behaviour.
Driver
Typically a driver likes to be in control of most things, often fiercely driven (hence the name), they insist on the facts, getting down to business and getting on with the next thing in their busy lives.
What to Avoid.
- Fluffy language
- Distracting animations or auto-play videos
- Clumsy navigation
- Shameless self-promotion
What to include.
- Facts and figures displayed in a succinct manner
- Logical, clear navigation
- images that are relevant to the content
Analytical
- Fluffy marketing language
- visual distractions
- claims that have no basis
- lack of detailed descriptions
- Detailed descriptions
- facts based on research and testing
- Logical and clear navigation
The Expressive
- Harsh language
- talking too much about yourself or your business in ‘Me’, ‘We’ or ‘Us’ terms
- Detailed descriptions that are hard to digest
- images that convey emotion and used in context
- descriptions that can be expanded eg. Learn More links
- Language that conveys emotion but not too fluffy
The Amiable
- Too much me-me talk
- Over the top claims
- Intrusive ‘in your face’ features like web presenters or auto-play videos.
- Relevant, emotive images
- Learn More links
- Copy with a friendly, human tone.
The ‘Keep Almost Everyone Happy’ Strategy
- Use clean, clear, well-labelled and logical navigation
- Use relevant, realistic, friendly and emotive images
- Provide easy-to-digest content in ‘chunks’ with links to more detailed information
- Factual, relevant information without ‘marketing fluff’ (try it, it’s not easy!)
- Address the needs and problems of the internet user first, don’t just talk about yourself and your business
What ways have you tried to address the needs of different users, I’d love to hear your feedback!
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Thanks Amedar, I appreciate your feedback, I’ll expand the content and make it a little easier.